Until Death Do You Part

Simulation #1

I wake up on a table. The kind you’d see in a surgery room. But,
I’m not strapped down or have anything connected to me. I’m in white slacks and
a black t-shirt. I have a long white coat on, pens in a breast pocket and some
kind of remote in the left pocket. What happened last? I remember walking
across the street, about to go home from my job as an advanced robotics
programmer, and then nothing. I think I heard a loud noise. A horn maybe?

Was I hit?

Am I dead?

Where am I then? I pictured death
being a bit different. I’m in a large room . White with dark red circuitry
lining the walls. Brightly colored cords run all over the floor. There’s blue.
And red. Yellow. They seem like normal colors, but what is this place? I look
at another wall and this one has a monitor on it. What could it be for? Am I
being watched? How though? I thought I was dead. Am I dead? Oh, wait. My
family. My two daughters and wife. My brothers and sisters, mother and father.
And my friends, co-workers, boss even. My mistress. If I’m dead, what are they
doing?

Hang on a second. Why aren’t I sad?
I have effectively lost my family, if I really am dead. Oh well I suppose,
nothing I can do about that. I look at the monitor again and try pressing the
on button. Nothing happens. I take out the remote and try to turn on the
screen, but none of the buttons are labeled. I look around for a second to see
if it’s unplugged. I don’t find any outlets or cords. Oh well I suppose,
nothing I can do about that. I look at the opposite wall and see an arrow. Its
not very large, kind of a beige color. I hadn’t noticed it before. I walk over
to the wall and brush my hand against it, not sure of what I might find out.
Nothing. It’s just a decal on the wall, painted maybe. So I follow it.

I walk into another room. This one
is almost identical to the last, just without the circuitry and cords. Still a
table, still a screen, still white. I walk over to the table and see a piece of
paper. It has writing. I read it.

“John:

"If you are reading this, then you are, for all
intensive purposes and for all you or your conscious mind know, dead. If
everything went correctly, you were struck by a red sedan, driven by a father
of three. The father was tending to the children in back and his wife, in the
passenger seat did not notice you in time. You were thirty two years, five
months, and six days old. Hours, minutes, and seconds are not relevant to the
study. You had two daughters. Names: Adrian Marie Smith and Adelle Marney
Smith. You had one wife. Name: Rebecca Narcissus Smith. Maiden name: Rebecca
Narcissus Adilade. Your brothers, sisters, mother, father, co-workers, friends,
bosses, acquaintances, and those you did not ever meet are not relevant to the
study. You had one mistress. Name: Abigail Clarisse Elisium. Everyone in that
world is now gone. That world was named Earth. You are thirty two years, five
months, and seven days old. Hours, minutes, and seconds are the same as your
previous self and are not relevant to the study. Your previous world was a
simulation assembled by you, three days ago; and initiated one day ago. You are
alone. You have forty seven years, six months, and twenty four days left. Your
task is to find the correct world. When you do, you will unlock the next room.
Perhaps that one will have a door out.

"Sincerely,

"John”

I place the letter down. Look at
the wall, opposite of me. I begin to panic. I run, searching for a way out.
After what feels like fifteen minutes I stop. All I have are the two rooms. I
start to scream.

I scream for what feels like a few
hours, but may be a few days. I can no longer hear my own voice. I close my
jaw. I set my jaw. I think. I look at the remote, then press a button. It turns
the screen in the second room on and a keyboard slides out of the wall. I get
to the keyboard and start typing code in. When I am finished, I press enter and
the screen in the first room turns on, and the table recedes into the floor. I
press a button on the remote and a new table comes from the floor, this time it
is green. I climb up, lay my head back and look at the screen one last time.
Then I think to myself, maybe this planet will be the right one.

William Elliott Kern:
Andrew, I felt the terror of the hospital fire, the loss of lives, the hospital closed for some 30 plus years, and now, a girl is seen in the upper floors, which opens the religious aspect to your story, faith in what? overall i enjoyed the story, the progression and character development and th...

Matthias Hehn:
Well written, could hardly put it down. The story is not too far fetched, a drug that messes up basic human emotions, and the effects on people and society as a whole. Hope there will be another book in the same style

SeanSavage:
Good plot that moves fairly quickly. Time passage somewhat vague. but not indecipherable. Very good syntax, grammar and punctuation. The story flowed very well, however, the breaks between chapters and the time jumps tended to be slightly confusing at first. I could see where the author was going...

Aditya Harikrish:
It had me on tenterhooks since the very first page. Excllently developed plot and characters. You've done an amazing job of building a fantasy world from scratch. Hats off to you!A sequel is a must.

William Elliott Kern:
Long story, the plot uncovered midway through the story. From beginning, the story was fast moving. Then dragged on for quite some time. The Author was good in describing her characters, their clothing, etc. but a lot of that disclosure distracted from the story moving fast.Not withstanding, the...

Nishant Jain:
I felt as if i am watching a movie,not reading a book. The story was definitely interesting. It was more of action than horror for me. There are a few grammatical and spelling errors I came across and at times I found it difficult to imagine some things which the author is trying to convey, but o...

debmart6901:
I could not put this story down. I stayed up reading when I should have been in bed. could not get enough, could not wait to find how it ended. Great story telling. Great detail. Loved it. The characters were very vivid.

mray2174:
I did like this story. I would totally recommend it to a friend, but it didn't seem like a book. Your writing style reminded me of a fan fiction writer, always adding in tiny details and making things like "Oh, my name is [name that no one would ever name a child] and here is my life story. Oh, d...

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